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iTV software company Liberate Technologies Inc. is spreading its wings, with the acquisition of Canadian-based OSS company Sigma Systems Group. Liberate will fork over $62 million in cash to enable it to deliver voice and high-speed data services on its traditionally video-based software. Liberate will use Sigma's $20 million cash to help finance the deal.

Troubles for the Adelphia Communications founding family are heating up again. The latest: John Rigas, two of his sons and two other executives have been arrested on charges of conspiring to commit securities fraud. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that the defendants — John Rigas, Michael Rigas, James Rigas, James Brown and ...

After putting the brakes on its review of EchoStar Communications Corp.'s proposed merger with Hughes Electronics until further public comment could be ascertained, the Federal Communications Commission is ready to kick its review back into high gear. In March, the FCC halted its review and sought comment on the combined company's plan to launch a spot-beam satellite to enable the delivery of l...

After recently receiving a $500 million cash infusion, Level 3 Communications Inc. is feeling good. The company reportedly has put in a bid for bankrupt Williams Communications Inc. Level 3 CEO James Crowe offered $1.1 billion for Williams in a letter sent to Williams CEO Howard Janzen, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The wireless industry has scored a victory in its battle to get the government to relinquish some of the spectrum it controls to launch advanced wireless services in the United States. The wireless industry has been battling for months now over spectrum in the 1710 to 1855 MHz bands and 2520 to 2670 MHz bands, which for some time has been allocated to government and educational users.

Copyright 2002 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Copyright 2002 Denver Post Denver Post…07/23/2002 From LexisNexis For two years, AT&T Corp. made futile attempts to sell its stake in AOL-Time Warner's cable TV business. Within the next few weeks a solution may arise: an initial public offering of the cable unit, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

RealNetworks has attempted to take another jab at its biggest competitor, software giant Microsoft Corp., with the introduction on a digital media software that supports various file formats for audio and video, including Microsoft's Windows Media technology and Apple's QuickTime. The open-source software, dubbed Helix, is designed to enable a company to use a single server to stream content no...

Retailer Best Buy is turning to Nortel Networks to establish a voice-over-IP network at its Richfield, Minn.-based corporate headquarters, while Boeing has turned to Nortel to build a nationwide optical network. Best Buy's VoIP network will be based on Nortel's Succession Enterprise solution and will feature a Meridian IP-enabled PBX.

IP Unity said it will acquire silicon vendor EmpowerTel Networks as part of a plan to serve operators that offer voice over traditional TDM (Time Division Multiplex) networks but also have plans to offer next-generation Internet protocol-based telephony services. Financial terms were not disclosed. Though IP Unity's plan of attack involved the VoIP market, the addition of EmpowerTel's technolog...

Phonex Broadband continues its surge into the powerline home networking marketplace with the introduction of its HomePlug 1.0-compliant device. The NeverWire 14 QX-201 device uses power carrier technology to make use of unused bandwidth in standard electrical wiring. The company is marketing the device to business and residential customers with multiple computers.

Copyright 2002 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Copyright 2002 Detroit Free Press Detroit Free Press…07/23/2002 From LexisNexis Small businesses that need faster Internet speeds but can't afford some of the high-priced options such as T1 lines, which can cost upwards of $1,000 a month, have a new choice.

Copyright 2002 Reed Elsevier Inc. Daily Variety…07/23/2002 From LexisNexis WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission has nixed a request by Liberty Media topper John Malone to up the company's stake in AOL Time Warner and lift restrictions on his shareholder voting rights. In an unanimous vote, the FTC said there was no reason to relax conditions imposed on the 1996 merger of Time W...

As expected, mounds of debt and a misreport of nearly $4 billion in expenses, has plunged WorldCom Inc. into a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The telecom giant's bankruptcy is the largest in U.S. history. In its filing, WorldCom listed $107 billion in assets and $41 billion in debt. The Enron filing, which was the largest in US history for a short spell, pales in comparison, coming in at almost ...

Broadband activation software provider BroadJump has introduced a new software platform to address operator challenges in signing up, activating and delivering service to new broadband customers. Dubbed ControlWorks Activation Edition, the new software "superset" combines many of the features of the company's popular Virtual Truck Qualifier and Installer activation platforms, and layers on new ...